14 facts about Leonardo da Vinci
- The name Leonardo da Vinci translates to Leonard from the town of Vinci. He is normally referred to as simply Leonardo.
- Leonardo da Vinci, (April 15, 1452 – May 2, 1519), was an Italian polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, botanist and writer.
- Leonardo was and is renowned primarily as a painter.
- Leonardo da Vinci was raised by his single father.
- The first work that Leonardo finished in Milan was the Madonna of the Rocks.
- Leonardo da Vinci was one of the first italians to use oil paint .
- Most of his paintings are in Europe and only one in the United States.
- Leonardo drew a self-portrait in 1515.
- Two of his works, the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, are the most famous, most reproduced and most parodied portrait and religious painting of all time.
- Leonardo was a left-handed dyslexic and procrastinating perfectionist who left many paintings unfinished and destroyed most of his work.
- Leonardo da Vinci drew the plans for the first armored car in 1485!
- Leonardo was a vegetarian who loved animals and despised war, yet he worked as a military engineer to invent advanced and deadly weapons.
- Leonardo da Vinci had dyslexia, when he made notes on his inventions it was all written in reverse, which made it hard for others to dig through his notes and steal his ideas.
- Leonardo invented the bicycle 300 years before it appeared on the road. Created an inflatable tube so people could float in the water, invented the scissors.
